Outranking The Emperor
by BoomChish
Summary: One-Shot, Complete. Seiji’s car breaks down in the middle of the Akina district, so he goes to get help from the first person he can find... who happens to be none other than ‘the king’ himself...


Okay, since I'm kinda stuck between a rock and a hard place when it comes to the continuation of the Evo Prime series, I've decided to release this short one-shot fic just so that you know that I'm still alive. This idea came to me while I was sitting on my butt in Religion class, waiting for the bloody class to start. There's no hidden lesson or any of that analytical mumbo-jumbo. I just did this for the hell of it. In short, this story was thought up today (Valentine's Day, 2005), I finished it today and hopefully, if is nice to me, it will register as posted up today :)

As a general note, this will make a smidgen more sense if you've read my other 'fic, Follow The Leader. If not, it won't make much of a difference, except you just won't know where Miyoko came from and what her connection with Seiji is, aside that she's a friend of his. Also, if you've read FTL, then you know the timeline. If not, it could technically place itself anywhere around the time that Takumi's in Project D.

Summary: Seiji's car breaks down in the middle of the Akina district, so he goes to get help from the first person he can find… who happens to be none other than 'the king' himself…

Outranking The Emperor

by BoomChish

It was rare for me to drive out to the Akina district, even on nice sunny days, but this was because Miyoko had gone to a class outing for one of her elective classes, and since her own car was out of commission, I'd offered to drive her there, then pick her up afterwards. It was for one isolated incident, so I really didn't mind at all. Besides, it's not like I had anything better to do today on my day off. I mean, the rest of the team was fully occupied as is. And the last thing I wanted to do was lounge around at home doing absolutely nothing.

As I turned into a small side street and started to cruise past the little shops, there was a strange loud pinging noise coming from under the hood of my car. Then all of a sudden, my beloved Evo started to lose power and started to slow down. Alarmed and confused, I steered my car off to the side and killed the engine before I popped open the hood and stepped outside to get a closer look.

Kyouichi had drilled into me repeatedly that I should be more aware of how my car works, so that if in the case it breaks down on me somewhere, I'd be able to diagnose it and provide _some_ assistance for the mechanics or whoever was to fix my car, if not fix it myself. But me, being the foolish prat that I am, I didn't listen to him. And now, with my car dead, I had no clue as to what happened to it.

Muttering obscenities under my breath, I whipped out my cell phone and called Miyoko to tell her I'd be late. She answered on the first ring.

"Miyo? It's me, Seiji. Listen, my car broke down somewheres here in the Akina district. I'll be late… so um… yeah. Sorry."

I heard her let out a sigh. "Do you know what's wrong with your car?"

"If I knew, I'd be fixing it right now," I retorted somewhat balefully.

"All right… Hey, where exactly are you? If you're nearby, I'll walk to where you are."

I looked around. "Um, if I recall, I turned off Hashida Street into this small side street. I'm parked in front of a…" I looked up and froze, my eyes wide with surprise and shock.

"In front of a _what_, Seiji?" Miyoko's voice took on an impatient tone.

"Hey… I'll call you back later, okay?"

"Seiji! Where –" she blurted out, but I hung up on her. As I turned off my cell phone and put it away in my pocket, I stared at the small store where I was now coincidentally located.

_Fujiwara Tofu Shop_…

Was it just a coincidence, or is this really the home of the infamous Hachi-Roku of Akina? Burning with curiousity, I took a deep breath and stepped into the small store.

Near me were a set of display cases filled with packaged tofu. A bit further back were two large pots filled with simmering tofu. I stared at it in surprise for a brief moment, but a noise from the back of the room diverted my attention. I looked up.

A middle aged man stood in the doorway of the back room, his face etched with lines of age and a perennial cigarette dangling from his mouth. He squinted at me as he scratched his head absently and said, "Can I help you?"

I hesitated for a brief moment before I said, "Hi. I, um… I was actually wondering… Do you know where the nearest garage is? My car broke down in front of your store, and I was wondering where I could go to get it fixed."

"Your car broke down?" The man wrinkled his nose before he stepped forward. "Let me take a look at it."

Outside, he peered at the internals of my car and made a clicking noise with his mouth. I started to worry a bit. "Is it bad?"

He lifted his head. "Not that bad; I can fix it, but it'll only be a temporary solution. You'll have to take it to a professional mechanic to get it fixed for real."

"Oh." I then paused. "How much do I owe you for it?" I queried.

"Just pay me the price for the part I'll be temporarily installing in your car, and I'll call it even."

I let out a sigh of relief. "Okay. Thanks a lot."

The repairs only took about twenty minutes in total. When he was done, he closed the hood of my Evo, then glanced at the sticker on the front. "'MONSTOR?' You're dyslexic or something?"

I made a face. "No… A friend of mine had several decals done for his car and accidentally misspelled the word 'Monster' for this sticker, so he didn't want it. But because he paid to have it custom-made, he couldn't just discard it, so I stepped in and bought it, and subsequently had it placed on my car, where it has permanently remained since."

"Ah."

I ran a hand over my hair before I said, "Well, thanks so much for your help… um…"

The man inclined his head slightly. "Fujiwara Bunta."

My eyes flew wide. "Fujiwara? You wouldn't happen to know, or be related to a Fujiwara Takumi, would you?"

Bunta took a long drag on his cigarette and exhaled the smoke casually. "He's my son. Why? You know him?" Before I could answer, he took one look at my car again and said, "Oh wait, let me guess… You raced him at one point and he defeated you in a touge battle?"

"Yeah, that's right. On Akina." I then looked at the father of the famous Project D ace. "Your son is an amazing racer for someone so young. How'd he get to be so good?"

Bunta shrugged carelessly. "The hell if I know." Still staring at my Evo, he said, "So where are you from? You don't appear to be from around these parts."

"That's right. I'm Iwaki Seiji from Tochigi. I race for a team on Irohazaka, called Emperor."

"Irohazaka?" That caught his attention as his eyebrows shot up. I watched his expression carefully. He took another drag on his cigarette again. "Been a while since I've been there. Isn't it a rather winding one way pass with an uphill track and a downhill track?"

"That's right. Consecutive hairpins with little place to pass your opponent. Though, admittedly, your son already scored a victory over us on Irohazaka when he went up against our team leader in his Hachi-Roku." I then paused. "I wonder… Are you the one who used to do the maintenance on his car? I mean, before he joined Project D and all that."

Bunta cocked an eyebrow, then shrugged. "Well, back then, it _was_ my car, so of course I did _some_ maintenance on it. But for the most part, Takumi has friends at the gas station where he used to work who help him with maintaining his car."

"Ah right. The Speed Stars. I've met them before too," I admitted. "In fact, one of them is related to a friend of mine."

He appeared not to care. "That's nice," he spoke absently. He then looked at me. "So how long have you been racing, Iwaki-san?"

"Oh… about maybe seven or eight years, give or take a few. I only joined the Irohazaka Emperors about four years ago, though. Prior to that, I raced solo."

"I see…" He then looked at the Evo IV and wrinkled his nose. "You like these new cars huh?"

I was filled with a small sense of pride. "Well, my Evo IV isn't _that_ new; it came out back in 1996, but it's still a nice ride. I wouldn't give her up for the world."

He shrugged. "To each their own, I suppose. I prefer driving older models myself, but given my age, that's understandable."

I then thought for a moment. "What convinced you to get a car like the Hachi-Roku over any other car, Fujiwara-san?" I queried.

He shrugged again. "It was affordable and it did what I needed it to do." Seeing the look on my face, he added, "I just needed a decent car to deliver the tofu every morning to the resort atop Mt. Akina."

"Oh… I see…"

Bunta took note of the slight disappointment on my face. He chuckled good-naturedly and clapped me on the shoulder. "Hey, I'm sorry if I couldn't tell you anything spectacular about the Hachi-Roku or my son's apparent driving skills. But I really don't know how Takumi got his skills. I gather he's some sort of a celebrity around the neighboring prefectures."

"That goes without saying. Everyone's agog over the infamous Hachi-Roku driver of Akina from Project D who absolutely cannot be defeated." I paused. "Well, there _was_ that time where his engine blew out on Akagi against our team leader, but he got that loss nullified when he took us on at Irohazaka."

"Ah, so it was _your_ team leader who raced my son when the engine on the Hachi-Roku blew out," Bunta commented as he eyed me with a strange look. Seeing my face turn apologetic, he held up a hand. "No, there's no need to apologize. The engine on that thing was due to blow itself out eventually. It _is_ an old car after all. Those things don't last forever." He puffed on his cigarette again. "Well… at least Takumi's not involved in any gang wars or any other foolish things like that."

Before I could reply, I heard a voice calling out my name. Both of us turned towards the sound and we saw Miyoko running towards us, her tote bag flung across her shoulder. "There you are! I walked from the convention centre to Hashida Street, then started looking down all the small side streets for your Evo. Good thing I finally found you." She then looked at my Evo. "So did you figure out what was wrong with it?"

"Indeed I did. Fujiwara-san here fixed it for me. It's a temporary fix and I'll still have to take it to a mechanic, but at least I'll be able to get us home safely."

"Oh good!" She then bowed to Bunta. "Hi, nice to meet you. I'm Miyoko."

Bunta nodded to her. "Nice to meet you too, Miyoko-chan." He then looked at me. "So wait, you were supposed to pick her up?"

I looked slightly embarrassed. "Yeah… well, I wasn't expecting to have my car break down on me," I explained sheepishly.

"Yeah, well you didn't have to cut me off, then turn off your phone so that I couldn't call you back! I must've left four messages on your voicemail before I gave up and started to walk here myself!"

The elder Fujiwara tsked and shook his head, a grin on his face. "It's quite impolite to leave a lady waiting like that, Iwaki-san."

"Damn right!" Miyoko added.

I looked apologetic. "Gee, I'm really sorry Miyoko…"

She waved a hand in dismissal. "Hey, no hard feelings there, buddy. At least you're okay and your car's okay."

I then glanced at my watch. "Well, we'd better get going now. Fujiwara-san, thank you very much once again. I really wish there was a way I could repay you further than just the payment for that part you installed."

Bunta shook his head. "No need. Like every driver, I know that helpless feeling you get when your car breaks down and you don't know what to do. I suppose every driver, both racers or normal, have dealt with it at one point in their lives." He waved to us. "You kids drive home safetly, okay?" He then turned and walked back into the store.

Miyoko and I got into the Evo IV and as I started the engine, my face lit up as I heard her roar to life. "Now _that's_ what I like to hear!" I spoke happily as I drove off. Miyoko was watching me with quiet eyes. "Say… Seiji… you called that guy Fujiwara… Is he…?"

"He's the father of Fujiwara Takumi," I explained.

Her eyes went wide. "No kidding? The dad of the infamous Hachi-Roku driver? You don't say…"

"Yeah… Too bad he doesn't know how his son got to be so godly in his racing." I let out a sigh. "I guess the rest of the road racing world will never know…"

-

He watched silently as the white Evo IV drove off and turned right on the connecting street. He merely smiled and stubbed out his cigarette before he walked outside again and towards the small alleyway next to his store. A blue Subaru Impreza WRX STi stood there, obscured from the casual sunlight. Iwaki-san hadn't mentioned anything about the WRX while asking his plethora of personal questions, so he supposed that he didn't see it.

Chuckling, he lit another cigarette and took a long drag before he got into the WRX and started the engine. Then he drove off.

-

"Who in the hell was _that_ in the blue WRX!" Sudou Kyouichi raged as he pulled his black Evo III off to the side and saw the tailights of the mysterious driver vanish into the horizon. Kyouichi didn't like losing on his home course. It reminded him too much of when he lost against Fujiwara Takumi in his heavily underpowered Hachi-Roku. He especially didn't like it when he lost to some no-name racer who just popped out of nowhere and, without even annoucing his presence, stomped on him as if a race against Sudou Kyouichi was nothing but child's play.

"The hell if I know," Seiji commented as he watched the WRX disappear.

* * *

Oh my God… It's Bunta! 

Few notes:

- I don't specify the nature of what caused Seiji's car to break down. I'll leave that up to you to decide. Personally, I wanted to make it a problem with the tuning belt, but I remember that when _that_ happened to my dad's '95 Chrysler Neon, it was out of commission for a good two weeks or so. So I scrapped that idea.

- Obviously Bunta's not going to tell Seiji anything about Takumi's skills or his _own_ skills for that matter.

- If you saw 3rd Stage (or read the mangas that far), you'll know why Bunta shows some recognition when Seiji mentions that he races on Irohazaka.

- I know that the sticker is supposed to be MONST**A**R and not MONSTOR, but I insist on keeping it as MONSTOR. Why? I just like it better that way :)

Love it? Hate it? Want PICS. NOW of me? Want me to jump off a bridge singing Night of Fire? (which I won't do, even if you pay me!) Please Review!

BoomChish


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